Erik ten Hag won’t survive in the Premier League unless he ditches the Dutch mentality.
Former Chelsea boss and fellow Dutchman Ruud Gullit believes Manchester United boss ten Hag must focus as much on power as technique and tactics as he tries to steady the ship at Old Trafford and revitalise the club.
And the 52-year-old former Ajax coach must move away from the Dutch fascination with playing perfect football. Gullit said: “Erik ten Hag is a good coach but if you come with just a Dutch mentality it is difficult. You have to adapt yourself and understand you don’t win games only with football.
“You need power as well. You need power. You need technique. You need stamina. You need the right mentality. In midfield you need players who can play and who can work will get balls off the opposition. If you don’t, if you only want to play it’s difficult. You saw it in the first game in the Premier League, Fulham made it difficult for Liverpool and that’s why we love the Premier League. There are no easy games, that is what you have to understand. You have to work hard every day and also have the right players to do so.”
Gullit, an academy member with global sports charity Laureus, reckons ten Hag has walked into a circus at United with the club riddled with serious issues. And as United stumble around trying to sign players in the last days of the transfer window he believes ten Hag’s only weapon is to win.
He added: “There are a lot of problems at the club. Nowadays players want to go to different teams. They want to go to Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. They are not the main team in England as they were with Alex Ferguson. And the problem for ten Hag is they have five ex-players talking about Man Utd everyday. That’s difficult and the only way to overcome that is to win.” Gullit believes United missed a trick in appointing old school bosses like Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, he is convinced United shouldn't have sacked The Special One in 2018. "They sacked Mourinho too early because he still won trophies there with players who weren't that good".
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Meanwhile, Christian Eriksen has warned his United team-mates that life will not get any easier for them against his old club Brentford as they look to bounce back from their defeat to Brighton in the opening game of the season. He said: "Of course it was a setback, but it’s also a step on the road. We know it’s a long road, a long season, so for us it was not the best start, but there’s only one way to turn that around and that is against Brentford.
"They have a lot of good players. Obviously when you play with them you see how they really are and what they’re capable of. You see more situations with the players than you normally do when you play against them for [just] 90 minutes. But they have some very good players. The striker, Ivan Toney, is very good. The keeper, David [Raya], has been very good, [Christian] Norgaard, of the Danish guys. The Danish guys are always good! They have good players in midfield and all round, and a few players that are very good.
"I had a very, very nice time at Brentford. Obviously it wasn’t as long as the other contracts I’ve had, but it was a perfect timing [in terms] of where I was at the time. Brentford helped me in every way, in that sense, so I’m thankful for whatever they did. I had a lovely time. They take care of each other. They’re really familiar with everyone and there’s a good vibe at the training ground. They’re hard workers and they know that they need to work hard to get results, and that really gets into the whole core of the club and also the players."
